Mercy, Severity

First of all, the title of this song has a lot to do with the Tree of Life, found in the Kabbalah. The tree of life is intwined in many of Mudvayne's songs, including many on LD50. Mercy and Severity are 2 of the 3 pillars of the tree of life. The pillar of mercy containts the sefira of Chesed, which is Mercy and the pillar of severity contains the sefira of geburah. For more information on the tree of life google it, there are volumes upon volumes of it.

Now for the song.

I agree with gabelogan that the song is about creation, it is about REcreation. " Mine the souls From their casts Pour form and reshape," may be proof of this. It is saying to mine the souls from their casts (mold, forms, plaster, metal, then to melt it down, pour it into a new mold, therefor reshaping. This in turn also has a connection to Mudvayne's song Solve Et Coagula, Latin for Dissolve and soldify, interesting, no?

The Yin part is pretty hard to explain.. There are many analogies to the 3 pillars (severity, equilibrium and mercy in that order) Toaist concepts of this include Yin, toa and yang Christian concepts include The Holy Spirit, Father and son Aspects of Goddess (Crone, Mother, Maiden)

So saying the eye of Yin's severity is like saying your holy spirit or something of that sort.

This is just all my opinion and what I have gathered from doing loads of research on Mudvayne songs

Here's my take. I don't have quite the Mudvayne background, but this and Shadow of a Man are my favorites on this album.

I think the song is talking about being rescued from a dark world. In the beginning the world was good, and then turned evil ("We've come here, from so far away"). People in the world have to deal with this massive evil influence ("This dark womb [the world], Wraps and covets me...")

Several lines of the lyrics are from the point of view of an outside greater power offering to take people to a better place. ("I can save you, If you leave it all behind ") Notice that "if you leave it all behind" means that it is not easy to give up the evil. Likewise: "Would you take a trip with me On the back of a star".

The last chunk of the lyrics are from the point of view of a a person in the world: "Mother of creation wait, Embrace the souls Of a lost world [us] Carry them away," is the speaker asking to be saved and not left behind. "Pour firmament between our waters. Seperate the space " asks to put the heavens between the speaker and the evil world, to be seperated.

If its not terribly obvious, this interpretation lends itself to a strong Christian theme.(and possibly other religions with concepts of salvation, i'm not a scholar)

"Mother of destruction wait with a belt of Skulls strap" would refer to the 'Angel of Death' dealing the severe justice to the evil world.

Thus, given the "Mother of Creation" which could save you [mercy], and "Mother of Destruction" who deals just punishment [severity], the song seems to fit.

That or I'm full of crap. Thoughts?

Quick explanation of The Great Timestrream Bifurcation. When Christ was born a parallel world sprang into existance with Christ never being born. This having happened Christianity never came into existance. So the Roman civilization never becomes destroyed. They hook up with the Mayans and trade knowledge. Eventually leading to a world that is 1200 years in advance of ours. They become aware of us through the use of psychedelics and notice that releases of hard radiation effect both worlds. So in 2012 they are supposed to come to our planet and either enlighten us or take us away into a new life that cannot be fathomed.

This is one of my favourite songs ever.

Personally, this song comes across to me as being about gods, or aliens or some such taking life from this terrible place, and creating a new world for it to live in.

Not bullshitting either.

for the concept of the Yin. One of the infinate dualities between Yin and Yang are the Hidden and Obvious. Yin being the hidden and yang being the obvious. My take on the lyrics:

Portal sits deep within the eye, The eye of Yin's severity, Rewards understanding

Yin being the hidden, from discovering and understanding the hidden, the knowledge is the reward.

The line "Portal sits deep within the eye" could mean diligent and careful observation leads us to the ability to pull back the veil of the hidden. Or it could refer to the concept of the third eye which is a point between the eyes and above the brow that through diligent meditation and gradually getting more yin (passive, calm, no action) opens the third eye, the eye of yin and the ability is the reward (through understanding).

"The eye of Yin's severity"

This could mean the concept of Yang within Yin. Which means, within Yang there is a seed of Yin and within every Yin there is a seed of Yang. That nothing can be truly yin and truly yang. So understanding that within Yin (Mercy) there is a seed of Yang (Severity) the understanding the concept and consciousness of that is a reward.

Just a few takes.

ok this topic is old as fuck but imma revive it, i'm planning on getting mercy severity tattood on me, on my right arm i'll get mercy, on my left i'll get severity (maybe mirrored, havent decided yet)with my body in the middle symbolically representing the pillar of balance.

i havent read all the comments here but alot of people seem to be in agreement about the tree of life, and without much research i think ive found meaning to the whole "eye of yin" controversy, and here it is:

"Portal sits deep within the eye, The eye of Yin's severity, Rewards understanding"

(pay attention to the words ive put in caps) according to wiki: The left column [of the tree of life] is headed by Binah and is called the "Pillar of Severity." It is associated with Hebrew letter Mem, the WATER element and the FEMALE ASPECT.

"MOTHER (female aspect)of creation wait ... Pour firmament between our WATERS (the water element)"

according to wiki: "Binah-"UNDERSTANDING": the infinite flash of Chochmah brought into the vessel of UNDERSTANDING to give it grasp of breadth and depth/feminine vessel that gives birth to the emotions/reason/understanding brings teshuva return to God"

according to some random ass website: "Binah, the GREAT SEA, is the sphere of YIN, the highest aspects of the FEMININE principles..."

"Portal sits deep within the eye, The eye of YIN's severity, Rewards UNDERSTANDING"

SO there you go, answers the things about "mother" "waters" "eye of yin" and "understanding" one thing i struggle to understand is that "the eye of yin" is actually "yan" (look at a yin yang and you'll know what i mean), maybe someone can shed some light on this

now the title alone might sound like positive and negative, but if you read about the sephirot on the tree of life, its clear that neither mercy or severity pillars are negative or positive, so it might seem like most of the song refers to severity (mercy is a fire and male aspect, the song never mentions anything about a male component", but the qualities throughout the song seem to go in and out of either mercy and severity.

anyways thats my 2 cents, id like to hear your stank on the matter, after all like i said i wanna get this tattooed on me and would like to know as much about it as possible. thanks

OK, I don't know how long this site has been up but I can NOT believe that nobody has at least tried to analyze this song. I personally have some extended knowledge on the subject that it deals with, so let me enlighten you:

This song is about creation, though I'm not exactly sure what kind. It's definately not about the creation of something good, that I'm pretty sure. The word "firmament" appears in several early American creation stories. It's also talking talking about creation of souls and discusses the "casts" or how souls molded.

Who is the "Yin" guy? That I do not know. Maybe made up by the band, as they do kind of have their own little cult-like aspects.

In case you're wondering, "Mercy, Severity" is probably my favorite Mudvayne song. Mudvayne is my third favorite band.

This is one of my favorite mudvayne songs.

What's sad is that nobody will get the reference from your name, gabelogan. (Syphon Filter)

It's about them being aliens...and turning other people into aliens?

Something fucked like that.